Alternate Reality
by Sionnain
Summary: The Exiles have a new assignment. It's going to be tough moving on to the next world for our intrepid heroes, as they attempt to play matchmaker with two people who really, really don't like each other. MagnetoXRogue. XMMF and Exiles crossover fic.


**AN:** If you're not familiar with the Exiles, here's all you need to know: It's a team of X-Men from all different realities brought together to travel through time, fixing timelines at the behest of the mysterious "Tallus", a bracelet worn by the team's leader, Blink. They are not allowed to move on to a new reality until they do whatever it is the Tallus demands. Fixing these so-called "wrinkles" in different realities is the only way they were be able to return to their _own_ reality. It's bascially X-Men meets _Quantum Leap_.

The team is ever-changing, and this incarnation includes Blink, Morph, Heather Hudson, Sunfire (here an adorable Japanese lesbian!), Mimic, and Nocturne. Nocturne is the daughter of Scarlet Witch and Nightcrawler, hence her calling Magneto "Grandpa." Finally, the timeline from whence Blink comes is the _Age of Apocalypse_ timeline, where Magneto and Rogue are married.

Incidentally, the reasoning behind Rogue needing her powers is exactly how she took down Apocalypse in X-Men _Evolution_.

This is sort of cracktastic, but damn it was fun to write. Hope y'all enjoy :)

**Alternate Reality**

_Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. _--Albert Einstein

No matter how many times they kept meeting the same cast of characters in different realities, it never failed to amaze Blink just _how_ different said realities could be.

She knew that Magneto was the ultimate symbol of everything the X-Men stood against in Calvin's reality, but it was still so _strange_ to her to be confronted with a world where Magneto was not the heroic leader of the X-Men. Or the devoted husband to his beloved wife, Rogue, and their small son, Charles.

She'd been one of the few who hadn't been shocked when they'd met Magnus before their first mission. The others had been appalled that _Rogue_ had married _Magneto_, but she'd not thought anything of it at the time.

Here…it was completely the opposite. Not only was Magneto a terrorist and the leader of some evil group of mutants called the Brotherhood, but he'd actually _tried to kill Rogue_ in some demented plan involving a machine to make all the powerful world leaders of this reality into mutants.

"Well, we've seen weirder things," Morph said, wearing something that looked like an X-Men uniform topped with Magneto's signature metal helmet and holding a _Yay, Team!_ pennant in his hand. "So what is it we're supposed to do with these two kids again?"

"Um…" Blink coughed. "We're supposed to make them…um…"

"Fall in love?" Sunfire asked, looking dubious. "Surely the Tallus can't expect us to stick around long enough to make Leader-of-the-Brotherhood Magneto fall in love with X-Man Rogue."

"No," Blink said slowly, concentrating very hard on the gleaming Tallus affixed to her wrist. She was finding it hard to speak. "We're not supposed to make them fall in love. That will happen…on its own. We just have to make them…ah, get together."

"Why?" Mimic sounded angry. "Why should I sacrifice my teammate—who _is_ my teammate in this reality, even if I don't exist—to that--_madman_?"

"They're very happy together," Blink protested immediately, ignoring Mimic's scowl. "I mean, where I come from."

"Oh, yes. Happy. In that demilitarized zone you called home," Morph drawled, shaking his head, now wearing something that resembled Apocalypse's belt around his waist, with an _M_ instead of an _A_. "Besides, Magneto's a good man in your time, Blink. He's not, here. He's the bad guy."

"Yes. He is. And the Tallus says if this doesn't happen between them…" she shook her head. "They are going to develop a cure for mutation very soon in this reality. Rogue will think herself undesirable and unable to have any sort of, um, sexual intimacy, and take the cure."

"Why don't we just tell her that she shouldn't do that?" Nocturne shook her head. "The Rogue I know wouldn't touch anything so vile as a so-called _cure_. How different can she be in this reality?"

"Uh, don't you remember Charles Xavier in our first mission? Guys, you know the drill. No arguing with the Tallus," Mimic said, peering at it thoughtfully. "But Blink…what _does_ happen, if Rogue takes the cure?"

"Apocalypse shows up with Leech as one of his Horseman. Rogue is the only one who is able to stop Apocalypse, by touching Leech in battle while he's distracted and can't stop her. She siphons away Apocalypse's mutant powers and Magneto is able to kill him."

"All this because her and Magneto have some…um, what was the word again?"

"Frot-"

"Let's just not talk about it," Blink said quickly, blushing. Luckily, because of her skin color, it was hard to tell when she was embarrassed. "There's um, one other thing," she said nervously, staring up at the sky. "Rogue's…a lot younger than Magneto. Like, by fifty years or something."

Morph made a low whistle, and appeared in a pair of _Lolita_ sunglasses. "Let's hope he likes the _nymphettes_," he intoned, morphing into James Mason.

Blink studiously ignored him, though as usual, his cultural references were lost on her. "And they hate each other."

"Hey, I've read Harry-Draco slash fanfiction on the Internet," Sunfire said seriously. "Sometimes, a little hate can be a good thing. Or at least, lead to some sex."

Blink had no idea what that meant, but Morph thought it was very funny. She wondered why he was wearing a green-and-silver striped tie and talking about something called a Snitch, but didn't want to ask. "Come on, let's go. The sooner we get this rather…embarrassing…mission over with, the sooner we can move on."

ooooooooOOOOoooooooo

"No."

"Absolutely _not_."

Blink rubbed her temples, wishing maybe they'd not decided to go for the honest approach and had instead gone with Morph's rather horrifying suggestion about drugging someone's drink.

Rogue and Magneto did not look pleased, and Blink really couldn't blame them. They were seated on opposite sides of the room, neither of them looking at each other. Magneto had tried to use his powers to escape, but Nocturne had put a stop to that with her hex powers.

She also called Magneto _Grandpa_, which had caused him to stare at her blankly and say "I beg your pardon, young lady?" in a rather choked sort of voice.

"You must not have children in this one," she'd responded, perching on top of the dresser. "Guess that's for the best, anyway. They don't actually like you."

"I can't imagine why," Rogue had muttered.

It was just Blink and Nocturne in the room, since Calvin didn't like Magneto and this was a bit too sensitive of a predicament for Morph and what Nocturne called his "frat boy humor." Sunfire and Heather had offered to take him out on the town.

The reactions from their would-be lovers was very…well. They seemed to be rather…

_Vehemently appalled_ was a good phrase.

"Look, y'all are real nice and convincing, but did no one tell you what this psychopath tried to _do_ to me?" Rogue stood up, her hands on her hips. "With the tryin' to kill me and all?"

"Yes. It's just…we're serious, Rogue. If you don't do this, your entire planet will fall prey to Apocalypse and his armies. You are the only one who will be able to defeat him, but not if you take that cure."

"Wait, what makes you think my—doing that—" she blushed scarlet—"with _him_ will make me decide not to take the cure? It might just make me want to take a three-week binge drinking trip to forget about it," she muttered, looking everywhere but at the man across the room from her.

"You have to see that there are some who will ignore your deadly skin and can give you…um…" Blink stared at the intricate patterns on the carpet. "You know."

"Why couldn't it be Joaquin Phoenix?" Rogue said, casting her eyes skyward. She turned towards Magneto with a fierce glare. "Did you set this up?"

"Oh, yes," he drawled, sneering at her. "I am _so_ enamored of your beauty, Rogue, that I hired these strange women to convince you to allow me to violate you." He smiled coldly. "I assure you, the only thing I think of when I see you is—"

"Failure?" she said sweetly, smiling at him.

"How incredibly young and stupid you are," he finished, standing up.

Blink looked at Nocturne, who was watching the two of them like it was a tennis match. The kind where someone threw something at the other player. Possibly something explosive.

They were going to be here _forever_. "Look. We can't move on until you do this, so…"

"No, _you_ look, young lady. I am terribly sorry, but perhaps you'll just have to suffer living in _our_ reality, because I am _not_ touching her. How do I know this isn't some scheme _you_ cooked up to kill me?" he said darkly, addressing Rogue.

They were both so _paranoid_. Gracious.

"Um, because that's stupid?" Rogue snapped, her eyes narrowed. "Can't I just promise you that I won't take any stupid cure and we can leave it at that?"

"Unfortunately, no," Blink answered. "The Tallus—the thing on my wrist—it doesn't allow us to move on unless our mission is fulfilled specifically. So, um…the faster you do this, the faster it can be over."

They'd deliberately left out the part about how Magneto and Rogue would eventually end up in a relationship after they…did what they were supposed to do. It seemed a big enough stretch to get them to even _look_ at each other.

"I can't believe I am shallow enough that doing this would actually make me _not_ take a mutant cure." Rogue shook her head in disgust.

"That _is_ rather horrible," Magneto agreed.

"Oh, whatever, I'm _seventeen_," she snapped back immediately. "What's that say about _you_?"

"Nothing, because we're not doing this." He glowered fiercely at Blink, who had seen Magneto glower enough in her own time not to be terribly frightened by it. "You are going to let us out, or else—"

"Sorry. I can't do that. If you try, I'll just bring you back with the portal. Please," Blink said desperately, her mind awash with the horrors of Apocalypse's reign. "I've lived under his tyranny. If you care at all about the future of your people, you must do this. Rogue will be the only one who can stop him, and this is the only way to ensure she will not take the cure. I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes the smallest things make the most difference."

"Smallest, huh?" Rogue said, a sly look on her face. "Huh."

Magneto's glare was hot enough to melt steel. "I have no proof that anything you say is true, and there is no reason under heaven for me to believe you. You are wasting your time."

"I hate to agree with him, but he's right. I can promise you not to take that cure, but I can't—he tried to kill me," she said, her voice frantic. "I can barely stand to _look_ at him."

Blink saw the briefest flash of something in Magneto's expression that might have been regret, before he covered it with his usual sneering countenance. It gave her the slightest bit of hope. _You two are so happy, even amidst destruction and chaos._

Absurdly, she wanted them to have the chance to be happy _without_ that, despite their rather significant age difference, and the ideological boundaries she could sense like a chasm between them.

"I'm sorry. But…there's no other way." With that, she grabbed Nocturne and teleported out, leaving their two prisoners alone in the room. She settled down in front of the door, glad that the walls were heavy. She didn't want to know what happened in there, just that it…happened.

That whole thing with the Trial of the Dark Phoenix had been tough, but she was starting to really, really hate this assignment. Since when were they Exiles, Reality-Hopping Matchmakers? Ugh.

ooooooooOOOOoooooooo

Rogue resolutely refused to look at Magneto. This was…God, this was _insane_. How they could think she'd willingly let that psychopath _touch_ her after what he'd done…

The pink woman, Blink, was outside the door. The blue woman who'd called Magneto "Grandpa" was perched outside the window. This effectively ended any sort of escape, and the phone had been disconnected. Rogue tried calling for the Professor to little avail. She didn't know where they _were_, and he couldn't find her if she didn't use her powers. Which was unlikely, considering Magneto would kill her if she tried to touch him with her bare skin.

She wasn't guessing on that score. He'd actually _said_ that right after those weird people had left them alone in the room together.

"Maybe we could just pretend to do this and they'll never know," she said, staring intently at her gloves. "They've gotta be kinda crazy to believe this story about reality-hoppin', don't they?"

"I suppose it's worth a try," Magneto muttered begrudgingly, standing up. He strode over to the second double bed where she sat and glowered down at her. "Perhaps you could make some sort of moaning sound."

"Perhaps you could bite me," she said immediately. "No. Just…bounce up and down on the bed and pretend."

His jaw looked so tense she was surprised it didn't crack. "Certainly not. That's undignified. You do it."

Rogue smiled sweetly up at him. "No."

"Then I suppose you and I are stuck here." He returned to his bed and lay down upon it, his hands beneath his head. "For eternity. What a lovely thought."

"I hate you," Rogue informed him seriously, then lay on the bed. She bounced up and down a few times, moaned loudly, and then mussed up her hair. "Oh, God! I'm so happy we did that, Magneto." She walked over to the door and pounded on it. "There. We did it. Can we go now?"

"I'm sorry, but the Tallus…it knows if you're telling the truth or not," the woman called back.

Rogue gritted her teeth and stomped back to her bed. Great.

"That wasn't a very convincing performance," Magneto informed her, and she threw a glass at him. It missed, but the sound it made shattering against the wall was really nice.

ooooooooOOOOoooooooo  
Blink was beginning to get nervous.

They'd been in there for _hours_, and…

Nothing.

If only there was some way to _show_ them what Apocalypse would do to their world. She looked down at the Tallus, which was glowing softly, and sighed.

There had to be something between them, there _had_ to be. The Tallus wouldn't demand this if it were impossible, would it?

She heard shouting, followed by another crash, and winced.

ooooooooOOOOoooooooo  
Rogue was hungry, tired, and scared. She wanted to be done with this and go home, and yet…they did not appear to be any closer to escaping even when they decided to put their differences aside and stop throwing things at each other, and figure out an escape plan.

Each and every one had failed, ending with a stern lecture from the teleporter that they not try and fool them anymore. She looked as harried as Rogue felt. "Just, please. Do this, and this can all be over. You'll save your people, Rogue."

"I've heard that before," Rogue snapped, glaring at Magneto. "Didn't believe it _then_, either."

They'd tried subterfuge. They'd tried brute strength. They'd even tried to pretend they really _had_ done…the thing…and this time it had been far more convincing, with more bouncing and moaning and Rogue blushing as hot as the sun.

Still, nothing. He was a brilliant strategist and she was tough and smart, but neither of them could fool the two women keeping them hostage.

"You guys work together really well," Blink had said, the last time she'd locked them back in the room. "If it weren't for you hating each other, see what a team you'd make?"

Neither of them had looked at each other after that.

Finally, with their room in shambles and the two of them exhausted, Rogue turned to him with a determined look on her face. "Fine. Let's just do it."

It was _almost_ worth suggesting it just to see the look on his face. "What?"

"If this will get us out of here, let's just do it. Then we will never mention it again and we can go our separate ways, and if we ever do meet this Apoca-whatever guy, we'll have a laugh and no one will know why."

"I am not…no. I am not taking advantage of a girl young enough to be my daughter because some strange people claiming to be a team of time-hopping, reality-repairing mutants told me so." Suddenly, his lips twitched. "That, I believe, is the most absurd thing I've ever said."

She gave a small, tiny laugh. "Yeah. As absurd as the fact you're going to give in, aren't you?"

He was. He wanted _out_ of here. She didn't need him in her head to know _that_. "How do I know you're not going to try and touch me?"

"I've just spent three _hours_ as your partner in crime," she reminded him hotly, oddly offended. "And we're in this together, Magneto. Let's just…let's just do this and get it over with." She colored suddenly. "Um…unless, you know. You can't."

"I bloody well _can_," he snapped immediately, advancing towards her.

"It's just…well, I know I'm not your type." She coughed, feeling ridiculous. "I mean, you like men like the Professor and women like…well, like Mystique. I ain't a guy, and I sure as hell ain't all dangerous like Mystique."

"You don't think you're dangerous?" He was right in front of her, staring down at her from inscrutable blue eyes, and she swallowed nervously at the look on his face.

They were standing very close together. Rogue took a deep breath and looked up at him. He was very tall. "It doesn't matter. Can you—I mean, I figure you have to be, um…you know. Aroused. By me."

His eyes gleamed with something that might have been amusement. "One would imagine that would help, yes."

"So, can you?" She demanded, nearly stomping her foot in agitation.

"Perhaps," he drawled, suddenly reaching out and taking her white streak of hair in between his fingers. "Are you just going to lie there and be terrified?"

"Depends if you're any good or not," she said bluntly, and was surprised when he laughed.

"Well, let's get on with it, and we shall see."

ooooooooOOOOoooooooo  
Outside in the hallway, Blink pulled away from the door and gave Sunfire a brilliant smile. "I think we might just succeed here after all," she said, pleased.

"I hope so. I don't think we should leave Morph in the hotel bar much longer," Sunfire said with a wince. "He's got this group of people convinced he's Brad Pitt. And by people, I mean a group of college students. And by students, I mean girls. This cannot go anywhere good." She sighed dramatically. "Why can't _I_ captivate the group of hot co-eds? Life isn't fair."

Blink shook her head, fighting back a smile. "Where's Cal?"

Sunfire rolled her eyes. "Video game arcade, pretending he didn't get his ass whupped in air hockey by a girl." She smirked. "He said I cheated by using flames on the puck, but he's totally lying. Besides, Heather beat him after me. I think his claws come out and get in the way of him playing correctly."

Blink laughed, then returned to her position in front of the door. She yawned. "I hope they hurry up," she muttered, sliding back down to sit cross-legged in front of the door. "I'm starving."

ooooooooOOOOoooooooo  
Things were not progressing as well as they could be, but they weren't going that _badly_, either. Rogue had pulled off her shirt and her pants so that she was wearing only her bra and panties, and Magneto had taken off his helmet and cape so he didn't look _quite_ so much like a supervillain. He actually spent a moment appreciating her in her state of undress as she sat there, looking both nervous and determined.

There was something to be said about a woman willing to do whatever it took to survive. He begrudgingly admitted to respecting her more than he had before.

They were even sitting next to each other on the bed, albeit without the touching that they were going to have to do if they wanted to fulfill their captor's bizarre demands and gain their freedom.

Magneto searched for something to say that wasn't terribly awkward, then his eyes rested on the small mini-fridge in the corner of the room. Wordlessly he crossed the room, opened the fridge, and returned with a small bottle of whiskey for each of them. "Here. Drink this. I don't drink, ever, and I doubt you do, either." His lips curved up. "Unless Charles is running his school with bit more of an open mind these days."

"So you think this will loosen us up?" She turned six shades of red and hastily reached for the bottle. "Bottoms up," she muttered, and downed the whiskey in one swallow. He followed suit, letting the warm liquid settle in his stomach.

A few moments later, he reached for her. She tensed and yelped, then apologized, so he went and got another two bottles from the fridge.

After that, things went a little better. She was soft and warm, and there was a heady feeling of euphoria in touching someone who was so deadly that their very skin could kill you.

Especially when they weren't actually _trying_ to kill you, but were sort of moving beneath your hands and making small gasping sounds that weren't necessarily borne of fear alone.

As he continued to touch her, stroking his gloved hands over her body, it started to become less awkward and she began to respond to him more fully. Her hands curled around his shoulders and she even helped him take her bra off, her eyes wide and unfocused as she stared at him.

"You're scary," she whispered, arching up as his fingers rubbed lightly over her nipples, her eyes locked on his.

"So are you," he whispered back, entranced by both the responsiveness and the deadliness of her flesh beneath his hands.

She was breathing very fast, shaking so hard he thought she might shatter beneath him. With careful deliberation, he slid a hand up her thighs, towards her core. She whimpered, her head tossing on the bed, but didn't stop him as his fingers trailed over the covered mound of her sex.

He kissed her because he couldn't help himself; her mouth was warm and unresisting beneath his own. She kissed him back until her powers flared, then he pulled away and stared down at her flushed body, naked except for her panties, as he rubbed her between her legs with insistent fingers.

"Oh," she said, surprised, and he felt her grip his shoulders tighten. She canted her hips upward, pressing into his hand, and it no longer mattered why they were there together, why they were doing this. All that mattered was finishing it.

He moved to lie between her splayed thighs, hissing a bit as he pressed his hard, cloth-covered erection between her legs. She immediately wrapped her legs around his waist and crossed her ankles at his back, and he began to rub against her, staring down at her intently.

Seconds later, they were both gasping, writhing together on the bed, and he thought of nothing other than completion. He moved against her with determination, his fingers rubbing her nipples, his hips rhythmically pushing against her own. She arched up into him and cried out loudly as she came, her body bowed beneath his in her release.

He came hard, with a loud moan, then moved off of her so as not to crush her with his weight. After a few moments he turned his head to regard here there beside him. His eyes moved possessively over her body, flushed and damp with exertion.

"That…" She didn't say anything else, but her look was a cross between surprise and satisfaction. "Woah."

As far as compliments went, he was rather pleased. It wasn't every day a man could please a woman with deadly skin, especially one he'd tried to kill.

"Indeed." He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

ooooooooOOOOoooooooo  
Blink jumped up as the Tallus hummed, her face delighted. "Oh, yay!" She beamed at the door, pleased. "I hope you are both very happy," she murmured, and then went to get the others.

It was time to move on. Hopefully their next mission would involve something a little less…personal.

Maybe they could just kick some ass instead of trying to get someone some. It would certainly be a lot easier.


End file.
